Endless conveyer.



(No Model.)

Patented Sept. 9, I902. J. M. DODGE.

ENDLESS, CONVEYER.

A nwpion fileanec. 17, 1900.

3 Sheets-Sheet l.'

mmzw...

HQ c.

'No. 708,759. Patented Sept. 9, I902.

' J. M. DODGE.

ENDLESS 'CDNVEYEB.

(Application filed Dec. 17, 1900.)

3 Sheets-Sheet 2.

(No Model.)

No. 708,759. Patented Sept. 9, I902.

ENDLESS CONVEYER.

(Application filed Dec 17, 1900.) (No Model.)

3 Sheets-Sheet 3.

e 30. veyer travels. The drive-chain in the present.

. UNITED STATES JAMES M. DODGE, E PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR TO THE.

LINK 'BELT ENGINEERING COMPANY,

P TENT OFFICE.

OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYL- 1 VANIA, A CORPORATION OEPENNSYLVA IA;

ENDLESS CONVEYER.

' sr cIricArIoN forming part of'Letters Patent o. 708,759, dated September 9, 1902. A Application filed December 17, 1900. Serial No- 40.207. (No model.) A

To all whom it may concern.- I

Be it known that I, JAMES M. DODGE,a citi: zen of the United States, residing in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, have invented certain 5 Improvements in Endless Conveyors, of which.

' the following is-a specification.

.' My invention relates to certain improve-- clients in horizontal conveyors. I lhe ob ect of my invention is to increase to the capacity of this type of conveyor, to sim pllfy the construction, to use only one drive-'- chain, and to provide a discharging device- Whieh can be readily thrown into and out of action, as fully described. hereinafter.

v In the accompanying drawings,- Figure l is a plan View illustratingv my improved conveyer. Fig. '2 is a side view of Fig. 1. Fig. .3 is a sectional View on the line 3 3, Fig. 1.

Fig. 1 is a view similar to Fig. 3, showing .20 one of the carriers 0r buckets tilted to discharge -the material carried thereby. Fig. 5.

is. a view looking in .the direction of themrow, Fig. 6. Fig. 6 is a sectional'view on the line 6 6, Fig. 1". Fig. 7 is a View on the line .25 7 7, Fig.1.. Fig. 8 is a detailview showing one of the main supporting-rails detached,

, and Fig. 9 is a perspective view showing the hood and part of the chain. A A are the .two rails upon which the couinstance is adjacent to the railA,. and this I rail A iscontinuous except at the turns, where it is cut away'to allow for the sprocket-wheels, as clearly shown in Fig. 1. The rail A is continuous except-at the:discharge -points,

where a movablerailA is inserted. This rail is so arranged as to-either carry the com veyer over the discharge-point or allow the carriers to tilt and discharge, -as full-y de o' scribed hereinafter.

B is-the chain, which maybeof any type desired. I preferably use the chain -illusranged pivots b, connecting the links b.

as shown in Fig. 1. 1m this instance the wheel B is a driving-wheel, being mounted on a shaft (J, having a worm-wheel a, driven by a worm c from a driving-shaft C. The

.trated in the. drawings.v

shaft 0 is mounted in suitable hearings on the frame E, while the shaft 0 of the wheel B is'mounted in bearings 6, adjustable in ways 6 in the-present instance by means of screwsc so as to take up any slack in the chain. I 1 i- It will be understoodv that while I have shown'the simplest form of endless-beltcom 'veyer,iin which the chain passes around a driving-wheel and a guide-wheel, the conveyer can be adapted to pass around any number of guide-wheels and be driven at any point desired, the use for which the eonveyer is intended controlling the arrangement of the conveyor. It'it is desired to convey material from one portion of a building to another, in which several turns are necessary, vthen'a number of guide-Wheels must be used Ito-guide the chainand the rails must be designedaccordingly; but in order to simplify the drawings I have shown a short section, and while I have termed this as a horizontal-conveyer it can be arranged at an incline, if desired; but it is intended mainly I preferably discontinue for horizontal use. the rails A at the turns and allow the drivingwheel or guide-Wheels to carry the inner end ofthe carriers or'pans.

The carriers or pans D are clearly illus- These carriers are preferably quadrangular in shape and preferably have "inclined bottoms, as shown in Fig. 3, inclining from the outer edge toward the, chain By this construction 'the carriers will hold more material, and the material will be prevented from accidentally dis- Furthermore, I

charging over theouter edge. it gives room for the proper arrangement of the outer carrying-wheels e. The carryingw'h eel's are mounted on trunnions e ,carried by brackets E, secured to the bottom of each carrier or pan- Brackets F F are secured to the inner end of each carrier and are journaled on the chain'B. The bracket F has a trunnion f, on which-the wheel fis mounted. This.-

wheel travelson the rail A, while the wheel e travels. on the rail, A.- In some instances only one bracket may be secured to the carrier; but I prefer two when practicable. I

' over the edge of the adjoining carrier.

preferably extend the bearing-surface of the rail A at the points where the conveyer turns, so that the flanges of the wheels will ride upon the rails instead of the tread at the turningpoint, so as to give the chain and its carrie'r s perfect freedom to turn. In the present instance the main portion act the rail A is an ordinary T-rail, as shown in Figs. 6 and 8, and the section a, at each corner is flat, as shown in Figs. 1, 7, and 8, and the section a is of such height that the bearin g will be transferred from the tread to the flange of the wheel without jar. The carriers D, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, are opened at one side and closed on the other three'sides, and the sides of the carriers when they are arranged in line are close together, but not so close as to pre-' vent the passage'of materialthrough the space.

between the carriers when the conveyer is fed from a continuous discharge-hopper.

To prevent the waste of material, I preferably arrange a hood g, Figs. 1, 2, and 9, which is carried by a bracket G, secured to the chain B, preferably at the pivot-point thereof. The hood has two flanges, one flange overlapping the edge of one bucket and the other flange overlapping the edge of the other bucket, so that while the carriers are passing under the hopper H. Fig. 6, they will receive material from the hopper, and as one carrier passes from under the hopper and the other comes into position the hood will deflect the material into one carrier or the other and prevent it passing through the space between the carrlers.

It will be noticed that one flange of the hood is wider than the other, and the wide flange laps over the edge of the carrier, which is pivoted to the link to which the bracket G is attached, and the short flange does not lap This arrangement is for the purpose of allowing the carriers to part on turning a curve with-' out the hood interfering with the movement.

I will now describe the mechanism for discharging the carriers. As before stated, the rail A is discontinued at the point where the discharge device is situated, and in place of the rail A is a movable section A This section A when in the position shown in Figs. 2 and 3 forms a continuation of the rail A; but when it is deflected or lowered and in the position shownin Fig. 4 the wheel 6 of the carrier D travels on a fixed curved rail A curved upward at each end to a point in line with the rail A, so that when the rail-section A is moved out" of line, as shown in Fig. 4, the wheel of the carrier travels along the curved rail-section A and as this rail-section is curved considerably below the normal line of travel the carrier is tilted, the chain B acting as a pivot, to such a degree as to discharge the contents of the carrier, and as the conveyer continues to travel the carrier is raised to its normal position in line with the rail A and travels on this rail until it comes again to the point of discharge. Any suitable means may be used to withdraw the railsection A In the present instance I secure the said rail-section to one or more toothed segments 2', having pins i traveling in guides t" on the supports for the structure. These segments can be arranged on one or both ends of the rail A In the present instance I have shown a segment at each end, and these segments gear with worms '5 on shafts 1, arranged at an incline. On each of these shafts is a sprocket-wheel vlfiaround which passes a chain 6 and on each of the shafts I is a hand-wheel I, by which either of the shafts can be turned, and the motion of the one shaft is transmitted to the other through the endless chain, so that both ends of the rail-section A will be raised or lowered in unison. I preferably guide the carrying chain B at the pivot point by a flanged rail J, Fig. 3, made in the present instance in the form of a channel-bar, so as to support the chain-wheel and its carrier while the wheel f is raised off its rail A and the wheel e is traveling on the curved depressed rail A The operation of the conveyer is as follows: Motion is imparted to the conveyer through the driving-shaft G to the sprocket-wheel B. This sprocket-wheelengages with a chain B, and as the carriers D are pivoted to this chain and supported by the rails the carriers will be moved forward, receiving material from any suitable hopper or discharge-spout H and carrying the material forward along straight sections and around curves to the point of discharge. At the discharge-point the conveyer is either carried across the discharge device by the movable rail A or the movable rail is lowered and the wheels 0 of the carrier travel over the depressed rail A thus tilting the carriers and discharging the material at the point desired. It will be understood that there may be several of these discharging devices throifgh the length of the conveyer, depending altogether upon the type of conveyer and the use for which it is'intended.

The above-described invention is of the same type as that described by me in an application for patent filed February 16, 1901', Serial No. 46,218, allowed June 6, 1902, and in which I have broadly claimed a horizontal conveyer consisting of a chain with buckets or carriers and means forturning the buckets on the chain to any predetermined point.

I claim as my invention- '1. The combination in an endless -chain horizontal conveyer, of a chain, means for driving said chain, carriers pivoted thereto, the pivot of each carrier being longitudinal, and means for allowing the carriers to swing on their pivots below the carrying level to discharge their loads, substantially as described.

2. The combination of a chain, means for driving said chain, a series of carriers pivoted thereto, the pivot of each carrier being longitudinal, two rails, one rail supporting the inner side of the carrier and the other the outer side thereof, with means for depressing the outer supporting-rail to allow the car-' riers to turn on their pivots to discharge, substantially as described. 4

The combination of a chain, means for driving said chain, an inner and'an outer rail, one oneach side of the chain, a series of carriers pivoted to the chain, the pivot of each carrier being longitudinal, two wheels on each carrier arranged to travel on the two rails respectively, and means for deflecting the outer rail so as to cause the'carrier to tilt, the chain acting as the pivot, substantially as described. I I 1 l 4. The combination in an endless-chain conveyer, of an endless chain, means for driving, said chain, a series of carriers pivoted to the chain, the pivot of eachc'arrier being longitudinal, a wheel mounted on each carrier, a

railfor supporting said carrier in its normal position, said railbeinginterrupted at the discharge-point, and a movable rail forming a continuation of the carryingrail so that when it is desired to discharge the carriers said movable rail is moved out of line to allow the carriers to tilt, substantially as described.

5. The combination in a conveyor, of an endless chain, carriers pivoted thereto, the

pivot of each carrier being longitudinal so that thecarriers can be tipped laterally to'discharge, with hoods secured to the chain and overlapping the adjoining edges of the carcarriers pivoted. to the chain, a railsupport- 1 riers, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

6. The combination in a conveyor, of an en'dlesschain, means for driving said chain,

' ing the outer end of each carrier, means. for

lowering the support at the discharge-point,

- and a hood carried by thechain and overlapping the edges of the carrier, substantially as described. v

7. The combination of an endless chain, a

carrier having ends and an inner side, said carrier beingpivoted to the chain at the inner side, the pivot being longitudinal, two- Wheels on each carrier, railsfor supporting the wheels, one of said rails beinginterrupted, a movable rail inserted'in the interrupted portion, and a curved rail at the interrupted portion over which the carriers travel'when dis-.

charging, substantially asdescribed. j 8. The combination in a conveyor, of a series of carriers having inclined bottoms, a bracket secured to the inner side of'each carrier, a drive-chain to which the bracket is pivoted, the pivot of each carrier being longitudinal,a bracket secured to the bottom of each carrier, a wheelon said bracket, and a rail supporting the wheel, substantially as described. a

9. The combination of an endlesschain, a

series of carriers pivoted to the chain so as to be moved up'or down,-.a, rail supporting the I i JAMES DODGE.

Witnesses: I

'WILL. A. BARR,

Jos. H KLEIN outerends of said carriers, a curved rail-sec- 

